Splice

Splice

Rated MA

At this point in time, I am not a parent. I don’t know first hand what it’s like to be a parent. But I do know lots of people who are parents. I’ve talked to them about their kids. I’ve shared meals with them where their kids would sit and eat with us. I’ve been there when times are good and when times are bad. The moments where the parent couldn’t possibly be prouder of their youngen. And times where the parent is literally pulling out their hair in frustrating and wondering about the process of adopting out their child. Parenting can be tough. But imagine how much tougher it would be if the child was a human/animal hybrid that you created in your lab and she was growing at an incredible rate.

I know some parents think that their children aren’t exactly human. In Splice, this is not an exaggeration but the situation a young couple find themselves after playing God with test tubes.

Clive and Elsa are two scientists in love. They’ve been putting in the hard hours in the lab trying to produce new forms of life by combing DNA from different animals. So far they’ve been successful. And they’re ready to take things to the next level and combine human DNA into their genetic cocktail. Despite being warned that this would be a bad idea, they go ahead with it anyway. Of course they go ahead with it – if they didn’t, we wouldn’t have a movie, would we?

The results of their experiment is a female creature they name Dren. As Dren rapidly grows into an adult, Clive and Elsa raise her in secret. Be warned, this is not a warm and fuzzy Disney movie. Things do get dark and we are forced to consider if attempting to create life, to in essence play God, is a good idea. Dren may seem cute and innocent, but there is something simmering under the surface – something animalistic and, if we’re willing to admit it, all too human.

The special effects in this movie are amazing. There has been a lot care and attention to detail put into making Dren believable. It’s an unnerving combination of realism and something not quite right. There are only four fingers on each hand, yet it looks completely normal at first glance. A lot of this can be credited to the actress playing Dren. She manages to move in a way that is simultaneously natural and unnatural. She earnestly comes across as something truly alien yet real.

Clive and Elsa are completely irresponsible. They are glorified children with too much knowledge and too much power. This is seen in everything from the way they dress to their reluctance to get married and start a family. These two shouldn’t be given a pot plant, let alone the ability to create new life forms. Yet, because of their immaturity, they decide to play God and create Dren. Splice is a movie that asks many moral questions. Should we create new life? Should we tamper with human DNA? Should we exploit these new life forms? Should we treat them as human or as lab experiments? Should we get romantically involved with these life forms that we’ve created and have sex with them? Yes, Splice goes there.

At one point, a character comments that “Some things you just don’t do.” There’s questions about morality going on here. But what things can you do and what things should you not do? There aren’t any easy answers here.

The scientists in Splice are irresponsible and don’t know what they’re doing. There is no plan when they create Dren. They only do it so they could say they did. They’re making it up as they go without any idea of what happens next. They do an absolutely terrible job of playing God. It fills me with joy to know that this is not how I was created. That the God who brought me into existence did it not as a lark or a badly thought out experiment. He created me because he loves me and he knows what he’s doing. He knew what he was doing when I was conceived and he has planned out my entire life. I can have confidence that I am not an accident. The real God is in control. If you are a Christian, then you are “God’s elect… who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father” (1 Peter 1:1-2)

Splice is the kind of movie that makes you think. There are questions here about morality, creation, and parenthood. Be aware that this movie earns its MA rating – there are several sex scenes and some horrific moments. These aren’t there just for shock value as they support the story being told, but they are still there, so if that kind of thing is a stumbling block for you, might be an idea to wait for DVD and fast forward through them.

There are a lot of questions raised, and there is some work done towards answering them. The morality of their actions is questioned, but no real moves made to set up what is moral and how the scientists should act in a moral way.
This is a movie that asks a lot of their audience when it comes to understanding the morality. And this is a good thing.

Pop Culture Christ

Our world has all kinds of weird and wacky ideas about Jesus. He's in our movies, our TV shows, our books, our music, everywhere. But how do they compare to the Jesus of the Bible? What about other areas of Christianity, such as God, Scripture, or faith? That's the aim of Pop Culture Christ. To look at how Pop Culture views Christianity and how Christianity views Pop Culture.

Pop Culture Christ is the work of Joel A Moroney. For more information about Joel A Moroney, click on the About link in the header.